スリランカ、１日１３時間停電　経済危機が深刻化

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】スリランカで経済危機が深刻化している。政府は３１日、全国規模で実施している計画停電を１日１３時間に延長すると発表。医薬品も底を突き始めており、緊急性のない手術を延期する病院も出てきた。（写真はスリランカのガソリンスタンド）
　人口２２００万人のスリランカは外貨不足のため基礎的な輸入品の代金すら支払えない状況だ。１９４８年の独立以来、最悪の経済危機に直面している。
　国営電力会社は先に、全国的な計画停電を１日当たり７時間から１０時間に延長していたが、さらなる延長に追い込まれた形だ。
　スリランカでは火力発電用の石油が不足し、今月初めから深刻な電力不足に陥っている。火力発電用の石炭・石油は輸入に頼っているが、代金を支払うための外貨が不足している。
　電源の４０％超は水力で賄われている。しかし、当局によると、降水不足のため大半のダムの水位が大幅に低下している。
　複数の病院で医薬品や麻酔薬、薬品などの在庫が払底。緊急手術を優先するため、緊急性のない手術は延期されている。
　首都スリジャヤワルデネプラ・コッテにある、国内最大のスリランカ国立病院では、病理検査も停止した。ただ、電力の供給は問題ないという。
　燃料価格も高騰を続けている。ガソリンは今年初め時点に比べ２倍近くに、ディーゼル燃料は７６％値上がりした。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/04/01-13:58）

Sri Lanka announced nationwide 13-hour daily power cuts from Thursday and more hospitals suspended routine surgeries after running out of life-saving medicines, as the cash-strapped island's economic crisis deepened.
The South Asian nation of 22 million people is in its worst economic spiral since independence in 1948, sparked by an acute lack of foreign currency to pay for even the most essential imports.
The state electricity monopoly said it was extending Wednesday's 10-hour power cut by another three hours from Thursday, enforcing a 13-hour rolling nationwide blackout.
The country had been under severe electricity rationing since the start of the month and the monopoly said an earlier hike in power outage from seven hours to 10 hours was imposed because there was no oil to power thermal generators.
More than 40 percent of Sri Lanka's electricity is generated from hydropower, but most of the reservoirs were running dangerously low because there had been no rains, officials said.
Most electricity production is from coal and oil. Both are imported but in short supply, as the country does not have enough dollars to pay suppliers.
At least two more hospitals reported suspending routine surgeries because they were dangerously low on vital medical supplies, anaesthetics and chemicals to carry out diagnostic tests, and wanted to save them for emergency cases.
The country's biggest medical facility, the National Hospital of Sri Lanka in the capital said it had also stopped routine diagnostic tests.
An official added however that the facility continued to receive power supply from the national grid.
- Widespread protests -
Sri Lanka's main fuel retailer meanwhile said there would be no diesel, the fuel most commonly used for public transport, in the country for at least two days.
Local broadcasters reported widespread protests across the country demanding fuel for private vehicles, which are also used for public transport.
There were no reports of violence, but hundreds of motorists blocked main roads in several towns while dozens demonstrated outside the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo demanding the removal of governor Ajith Cabraal.
Officials from the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation urged queuing motorists to leave and return only after imported diesel is unloaded and distributed.
Fuel prices have also been repeatedly raised, with petrol costs nearly doubling and diesel up by 76 percent since the beginning of the year.
Colombo imposed a broad import ban in March 2020 to save foreign currency needed to service its $51 billion in foreign debt.
But this has led to widespread shortages of essential goods and sharp price rises.
The government has said it is seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund while asking for more loans from India and China.
Sri Lanka's current predicament was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which torpedoed tourism and remittances.
Many economists also blame government mismanagement including tax cuts and years of budget deficits.
The country's statistics office on Wednesday announced economic growth of 3.7 percent for the 2021 calendar year, before the crisis began to bite -- up from a record contraction of 3.6 percent the previous year.